The Goodness of God

Can you remember a time when someone showed you kindness, and it changed your whole day? Or, do you remember someone who helped you through a difficult situation by their love and encouragement? How about a time when mercy was extended to you, and this inspired you to make changes for the better in your life? God with His infinite love and mercy reaches out to all mankind with His abundant goodness.
God wants only good for all mankind and especially for His children. This reality, when understood and experienced, motivates us to make positive changes in our lives so that we can live for God and show His goodness to others. Let’s look at God’s goodness and see how it helps us live for Him and reach out to others.
God declares in His Word that He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (I John 1:5) and that He is love (I John 4:8). These characteristics reveal His good nature. Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille wrote in God’s Magnified Word, in the chapter entitled “Job: From Victim to Victor”: “God brings only blessings. It seems to take much spiritual growth before people will accept the fact that God is good, always.” Some people may think that God brings sickness or consequences upon them to humble them or to teach them something. However, these beliefs do not line up with what God declares of Himself in His Word.Psalms 145:8 and 9 [The Amplified Bible]:
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness.
The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works [the entirety of things created].
God wants only good for mankind. He made the earth to be inhabited by man. He designed all of life to support and bless mankind. Even from the beginning God shows in His Word that what He made in establishing the second heaven and earth was very good.Genesis 1:31:
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Jesus Christ taught his disciples that God loves all mankind and shows His love by allowing the sun to shine on the evil and the good and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.Matthew 5:45:
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
God’s continuing love and mercy is evident to all. Whether someone lives for God or not, they can still enjoy the sunshine and the rain. God wants all men to know of His goodness, so He makes these blessings available to all creation, not just to those who believe. The vast detail and beauty of the earth reflects God’s goodness to all men.
While God extends His goodness to all of mankind, Psalm 31 tells us how great His goodness is for them that reverence Him.Psalms 31:19:Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear [reverence] thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
As God’s children, we know from His Word that He will abundantly extend His goodness to us because we believe.
We can understand more of Who God is by what He declares of Himself in His Word. He uses various titles to reflect the different aspects of His nature. “Almighty God” is one of these titles. This particular name really exemplifies His goodness to the believer. Regarding this title of “Almighty God,” we read the following in the first chapter of Order My Steps in Thy Word:

So the words “Almighty God” and “God Almighty” as they appear in God’s Word are always in the context of bountifulness to the believer, blessing to the believer, support to the believer, defense for the believer, supply for the believer’s every need. This was the Word of God Almighty to the Old Testament believer. And this is the Word of God for born-again believers since the day of Pentecost, the age of which you and I are a part.

In Genesis 49, we see the Almighty God’s blessing upon Joseph the patriarch.Genesis 49:25:Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee [Joseph]; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
God desires great abundance and blessings for those of us who believe. He will support and defend us, and He will supply our every need. God wants us to prosper and to be healthy, as we see in III John 2:Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth….

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